Need

but here is the catch... he fell off another ship! The other ship didn't know he fell according this article:

http://www.floridatoday.com/story/ne...enger/21633907

After a full day at Cayman Island, we were fully asleep early the next morning. We were woken up by a loud PA announcement saying something like "Mr ....., Starboard side now." We thought that was weird.. did someone fell off the ship? Later on that morning, sometime after 7am, they told us over the PA that the man they rescued was recovering in the medical center and he was not from our ship!

At breakfast we were docked at Mexico and saw the medical team walked in on the pier. It was like the opening of some TV show where the 4 of them walk in slowly in a line.

cruisr

That is amazing and lucky for the man overboard. Having read about young men and women who go overboard it usually doesn't end happily in a rescue. Unfortunately alcohol is usually involved with person overboard incidents. It will be interesting to get the rest of the story.

Need

We asked all the crews we met that day about it, none of them experienced ever rescuing someone who fell off the boat let along someone who fell off another boat! One said that he can't be in the water too long because the sea was extra rough that morning. This was our first cruise and whoever told us that motion sickness is not a problem on cruise ship was lying. Our stateroom was at the every back of the ship and probably one of the rockiest.

We still wonder how he fell off. If he was drunk, there is no way he could have stay afloat for that long to be rescued. Very strange but a good ending. Some onboard were joking that he saw the Disney ship and jumped off to swim to us LOL.

jabbered

From some of the articles I read, the ships were just a few miles as the port was near so that's lucky.

They also said that the man wasn't noticed as being missing from his ship. I've cruised twice (both with Disney - one we stopped to help a stranded fishing vessel), but have never tried to jump or fall overboard.

Without someone nearby to witness, would someone jumping/falling overboard automatically be noticed? I guess there are cameras, but is someone watching at all times? Are there sensors?

piper28

Nobody "falls" off a ship without some sort of extenuating circumstance. The railings are too high for someone to "accidentally" do it. In general, these circumstances come down to either someone jumped intentionally, or they were drunk and goofing off (with a small percentage of just goofing off without being drunk).

The cruise ships do have camera coverage of pretty much everywhere that someone could go overboard, and it is monitored, but that doesn't mean that they're going to catch someone that goes overboard. It takes a lot of cameras to watch a ship the size of the Oasis (which I think is where this person "fell" off of?), so obviously, even someone watching the display isn't necessarily going to notice it. Generally, unless someone sees it in person, they might not know until the person is reported missing for some reason (someone that person knows notices that they haven't shown up for something they expected them to, cabin steward notices the room hasn't been occupied for a while, that type of thing). At that point generally they'll do a sweep of rooms to account for everyone, and they'll review the video footage to see if they can find evidence of when someone might have gone overboard. But needless to say, that can be hours if not days later, which drastically reduces the chances of success in finding someone alive.

I'm not sure how realistic it would be to put some sort of automated system in place to detect this type of thing. There's a lot of factors that would have to be accounted for to reduce the possibilities of false alarms, and you're dealing with a pretty wide range of weather conditions that could be present. Personally I think this is one of those things where people just need to learn that they're accountable for their own actions, and that it's not the cruise line's responsibility to baby sit them.

I am *very* impressed that the other ship noticed the person without there being any expectation that someone out be out there. Yeah, the bridge keeps constant lookouts with binoculars, but spotting an individual person out in the middle of the ocean without expecting someone there is pretty lucky. (And apparently they were noticed by some passengers too, so kudos to those passengers also.)

Need

I just read this morning on ABC news that someone on our ship actually heard the guy yelling for help. I tried to watch that video of the rescue 5 times and I couldn't spot the guy in the water. All I saw was the rescue boat moving around.

The sea was a little rough that morning. Some of the sea excursions were actually cancelled due to large waves and wind that day. That guy has got to be a good swimmer in order to stay afloat that long for us to pick him up.

wrp96

I've seen follow ups that there is video showing him jumping and that he has admitted it.

C Dub

I was always told that if you jump overboard you would be sucked into the props and turned into chum. Apparently that isn't always true. About two years ago, on the last night of our cruise, we had a crew member jump overboard on the Carnival Magic. Somehow, he survived, and was rescued also.

SCGustafson

Friend of mine was onboard the Disney Magic, which was the rescuing ship, and he found out that the man rescued had been thrown off of the other ship. Apparently, the rescuee, recovered naked, had been caught in bed with the wife of another man. This other man walked in on the two of them and threw the man overboard.
My friend, a senior naval officer, is not prone to gossip nor to make up stories, and has the ability to easily find out hard-to-get information, so I am apt to believe this story.

pseudoswede

"A man who fell overboard off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship was rescued hours later by a Disney cruise ship. The Disney ship was playing the Frozen soundtrack, so he immediately jumped back overboard." - Conan O'Brien

mikeef

We've really gotta start a cruise Do list here. We were also on the ship! If you saw frantic parents chasing around a pair of boy/girl 6-year old twins, that was us.

I spoke to one of the concierges, who told me that the man had been in the water for four hours and was drunk. Apparently, he came on in okay shape and ended up being sent to a local hospital.

Oh, the call was for "Mr. Mop." I was sure some kid had thrown up on deck.

Let me assure you that Conan is not at all far from the truth. This article from May describes how I feel as a parent. I have a boy and a girl and both of them are equally into it (although he won't wear his sister's Elsa dress). We have three Elsa dolls, one Anna doll, a Frozen backpack and more Frozen clothes than I can count. Want to get kids to eat their broccoli? Easy, shape it like Olaf. In a nutshell:

On the Disney cruise, there would be a schedule of when certain characters would appear. You showed up a few minutes before they got there and waited five minutes in line. Not Anna and Elsa. Oh, no, if you wanted to see them, you had to make a reservation.

And for those driving from PBI to Cape Canaveral to pick up the cruise, I can tell you that it is exactly 4.5 times through the Frozen CD.

Thank you all for letting me get that off my chest.

Mike

pseudoswede

My first Disney cruise is in December. Pray for me.

I guess I lucked out that my daughters love the movie, but don't have a need for any of the accessories except the DVD--watched about once every three weeks.

N830MH

Actually, Disney Cruise Lines is rescued him near CZM and they took him to the shores for treatment. How lucky he is! US Authorities & Mexico coast guard is questioning him. How it did happen? How did he fall off the cruise ship?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cr...y-another.html

N830MH

delete double post.

Need

LOL I saw so many (both frantic kids and parents). Yeah Mr. Mop sounded familiar. I was half asleep so I can't remember. I was sure it was Starboard side because if it was Port side I would have got up and look out the balcony.

I can't believe he would be in the water for 4 hours.. and drunk? That's crazy. Funny thing is that after we came back, we found out that one of our friends is going to start working on the Oasis of the Sea starting next month!